Rex moved swiftly and drew his knife, choosing the offensive immediately rather than defense. Natasha laughed and simply side stepped countering most of his moves with ease but was beginning to have difficulty has he swung faster and faster. Charles floated back over beside me. "Ow..." He grumbled. "Well... atleast I can gain a safe bet from Slot right ol' buddy?" Slot didn't move or say a word. He watched the fight but wasn't spouting his usual nonsense. His coin was in hand but he was frozen in time. "Slot... Oh crap... it's too close to call..." Charles said worriedly. Many of the Guardians betting kept glancing at Slot to see what he would do. Gio looked at the fight and back at Slot. "Betting ends in thirty seconds." "Thirty?!" Charles cried out. "Ok... Rex or Natasha... Exo or Exo... Uh... they both are pretty good... come on..." "I bid for Rex." I said getting annoyed with Charles. I tossed in an extra hundred to prove my point. "Hey now don't be irrational about this!! That's 50000 Glimmer at stake!!" Gio nodded and placed my stash in a pile. "Fifteen seconds." Guardians scrambled for a lot of a mix between the two but mostly Natasha. "You better win!" Yelled Charles into the ring. "Money's on the line!" "And your head." I said. He paused and yelled louder. "You better her kick her a** Rex!!" Slot slid the coin in the slot and pulled the lever right as betting ended. He mumbled something about a grenade, super and a knife. The two below were fighting fiercely. Rex rained blows down and was forcing Natasha to back up. She managed to push him back with her melee and threw down a storm grenade. Rex dodged behind a pillar just as it erupted in fury. He threw a throwing knife and it stuck Natasha square in the shoulder. She yelled in pain and backed up. Her body suddenly sparked in anger. "Here comes the Thunder!" Said Cayde excitedly as Natasha activated Storm Trance. Lightning cascaded off the walls of the arena and the lights flickered in a strobe-like spazz. She shocked the pillar where Rex was as he activated Golden Gun. He made a pot shot which caused her to recoil back as he ran for more suitable cover. She followed him and tried to zap him only to barely miss a golden bullet twice. Charles was yelling angrily. "Stop missing you dolt!! You can aim better than that!!" "He's missing on purpose." I said. "WHY?!" "He's got a plan." "As do I!! DON'T LOSE!!" Charles spun back around to watch the fight. Rex managed to get another throwing knife and flung it. The pommel slapped Natasha on the head hard, causing her to lose her concentration and lose her super. Rex then jumped out of cover and drew his large hunting knife. Natasha grabbed the throwing knife and used it to block the blade as well as push him away with her melee. The two danced around for a short time. Slot pulled the lever down to stop it. "Winner by knife." Natasha managed to swipe Rex onto his back and raised her hand high to strike down with the knife. "I can't watch!!" Charles said, his eyes already welling up in tears. He zoomed over and hugged the pile of Glimmer. Natasha plunged her hand down only to hit her fist onto his face. The knife vanished from her hand. Rex then knocked her off and plunged his own knife into her side and deep into where a heart would be, causing her to fade to a simple Ghost. The crowd was silent for a split second then roared in surprise as Rex stood up. "Well I've heard that love hurts and heart attacks hurt worse but this is ridiculous! None the less a fantastic win by the rook, Rex-5742!" Said Cayde with excitement. "He won?!" Charles zoomed over to see. "YES!! TOTAL FAITH IN YOU BUDDY!! HAHA!!" I grinned and held out my hand. Gio condensed my Glimmer into a single cube and gave it to me. "Nice bet." He said with a shadowed grin. I nodded and walked away, dragging Charles with me. He was half crying, half laughing. "Good job buddy!! Good job! I owe you a compliment or something for a day!!" "That's what you give when he saved your life?" Charles laughed. "You think I'm NOT going to be a dick to any body for any reasonable amount of time? Your insane." "And very frustrated." I gripped his shell hard as he spazzed out in pain. "COME ON!! OWWW!! You have so much mon.... OWWW!!" "Well you were gambling and that's bad." "Not if you win!... OWW!!" "Come on we have a dinner to get to." "You mean a da... Owowowow!!" "Say one more word and I will break you in two." Charles paused and fell silent. He then coughed. "That's what he said. OWWW!! And that's what she sai.... OWOWOW!! TOTALLY WORTH IT!..." I grumbled and walked back to the barracks with a screaming Ghost in my hand. I made my way to the barracks and let go of Charles. He spun his shell slowly. "You know, the more this goes on, the more I can file charges." "Yea sure..." "Seriously! What would dear ol' daddy think if he say you beating up on a poor helpless Ghost? What would he say?!" "Probably something along the lines of 'Good job! He needed it.'" ".... No he wouldn't..." "You sure about that?" "... Depends... without context, I'm sure he wouldn't." "There's my point." He grumbled and floated by me. We got to where Sri was staying and knocked on the door. She opened the door and the slight fragrance of perfume tickled my nose as she nodded and me. "Bout time you showed up." "Sorry, I had to deal with... problems." I glanced over at Charles. She sighed. "How could I not have guessed." She shut the door and looked at me. "I know of a decent place to be, care to go?" "I'm not too picky." She gave a half smile and walked with me in tow. Charles looked between me and her. He whispered in my ear. "Choose one or the other..." "I'm getting to it..." I said quietly. "No I meant top half or bottom half. Cause to me, both are fairly acceptable...." His snarky comment ended with his screaming into the gate, core first. He slowly peeled himself off. "Ow...." He followed me in silence as we made our way down to the Last City once more. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/173791287/0/0 link to chapter 20.3 https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/175188673/0/0 link to chapter 20.9